“One Nation” rally illustrates Progressive Movement is not dead

The "One Nation" on October 2 brought together tens of thousands of people under the umbrella of various issues, from those against the war, those against poverty and those against international child abduction.

Hundreds also came out to show their support for President Obama and Democrats running in the upcoming election.

Under the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, RT bumped into a man dressed like Abraham Lincoln himself.

“I’m down here with the citizens of the United States who have come from all corners of the country to demand that jobs, to demand that the government works for Main Street and not Wall Street,” he said.

In addition to dead presidents, there were plenty of union members and even a super hero.

“Stop waiting for Superman,” said Nils DeVita. “We’re already here. Public school wasn’t supposed to be a corporate profit. It was really supposed to be that you learned.”

His costume was in response to the documentary, “Waiting for Superman”, which shows the gap between public schools and charter schools.

A large showing was from participants protesting against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“America, the United States wastes a trillion dollars on military spending,” said Green Party Activist Carey Campbell. “We could cut U.S. military spending by 90 percent and the U.S. would still be spending more than any nation in the world.”

Corporate greed and frustration with the bank bailouts were other topics people came out to speak out against.

“We are still suffering and reeling from an economic crisis where the people who were most strongly hit were the working families, the working poor and those who never got a bailout,” said Noura Erakat, who is a Human Rights attorney and also part of the Palestinian contingent.

Many people out here are comparing this rally to Glen Beck’s rally to restore honor a little more than a month ago. It’s being held in the same place with about the same size crowd, but the people here and their issues couldn’t be more different, issues including protesting against Glen Beck and Fox News.

“I’m concerned about the lack of journalistic integrity, the 24-7 republican spin put on everything the democrats do, and just the general lack of sources,” said Dan Buskirk.

Buskirk considers himself a Progressive.

“We’ve changed everything from labor laws to human rights laws everything in America that’s good about our society has come about as a result of progressives,” he said.

Perhaps the one thing everyone had in common was their common enemy: the move embodied by the Tea Party.